九州大学学術情報リポジトリ Kyushu University Institutional Repository Tenrikyō's Divine Model through the Manga Oyasama Monogatari Porcu, Elisabetta University of Cape Town : Senior Lecturer in Asian Religions https://doi.org/10.5109/1806140 出版情報：Journal of Asian Humanities at Kyushu University. 2, pp.85-93, 2017-03. 九州大学文学 部大学院人文科学府大学院人文科学研究院 バージョン： 権利関係： enikyōs iine Mode toug the Manga Oyasama Monogatari eliSaBeTTa porCu Intodution authority, being linked to politics, economy, science, and culture, as well as competitions among diferent HE idea of religion continuously reinventing religious traditions.2 Te feld of culture, in particular itself has come to the fore once again during a popular culture, can be aptly seen as an arena where recent symposium held at Kyushu University.1 A religious institutions attempt to keep their bonds to so- Tclear example is Japan’s modernization during the Meiji ciety.3 Two notable expressions of such culture, manga period (1868–1912), when Buddhism needed to face the and anime, have become distinctive aspects of Japa- challenges coming from external threats (such as those nese culture and signifcant examples of what Joseph posed by Christianity as well as foreign economic and political interests) and internal struggles related to the forced separation of Buddhism and Shintō, the subse- 2 See also the recent study on the Ise shrines by Mark Teeuwen and ohn reen where the idea of Ise as an immutable sacred quent persecution of Buddhism, and the establishment space is clearly deconstructed. Mark Teeuwen and ohn reen, of what was later labeled State Shintō (kokka shintō 国 A ocial History of the Ise hrines: iine apital (London and 家神道). Such a reshaping is, however, not surprising New York: loomsbury, 201). In present-day apan, we can consider the strategies used by religious institutions to overcome considering that religion is part of a socio-economic a condition where religion is not playing an infuential role in fabric in continuous fux and, as such, always involved public life and their attempts to experiment with new modes of in processes of transformation and (re)afrmation of temple’s management and communication with members and visitors. See my paper Pop eligion in apan: uddhist Temples, Icons, and randing, Journal of eligion an Popular ulture 2, no. 1 (201): 152 and ohn K. Nelson, perimental uhism: 1 th IMAP in apanese umanities Symposium on Pre-Mod- Innoation an Actiism in ontemporary Japan (onolulu: ern apanese Culture: eligion and Imagination in apanese University of awaii Press, 201). Contexts, organized by the IMAP in apanese umanities in e- In this regard, see my paper Pop eligion in apan lisabetta cember 201. This paper was written during my stay as a visiting Porcu and Paul att, eds., Journal of eligion in Japan 1, no. professor at the IMAP in apanese umanities, Kyushu University, 1 (2012), special issue on eligion and the Secular in apan and I would like to thank my colleagues Cynthea . ogel and and Satoko ujiwara, ed., Journal of eligion in Japan 5, no. 2 llen an Goethem for their kind invitation. I would also like to (201), special issue on Secularity and Post-Secularity in apan: thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments. apanese Scholars’ esponses. 85 JAHQ-V2-interior-final-v2.indd 85 3/20/17 7:41 AM Nye has labeled “sof power.”4 Trough popular culture manga and anime to communicate with their mem- things Japanese have gained global recognition,5 and re- bers, the choice of themes and the way the founders ligious groups and individual priests have ofen turned are portrayed are quite traditional and can be seen as to popular culture to appeal to younger generations in a manga-ized replica of accounts found in the denom- contemporary Japan.6 inations’ booklets and teachings transmitted through In this brief paper, I will focus on some crucial as- kawaii (“cute”) fgures. For example, the anime Shin- pects of a manga created by Tenrikyō 天理教 (a new ran sama: Negai, soshite hikari 親鸞さま―ねがい、 religious movement originating in the nineteenth-cen- そしてひかり (Shinran-sama: His Wish and Light, tury), Oyasama monogatari (Gekiga Oyasama mo- 2008) clearly mirrors a classical/popular narrative nogatari 劇画教祖（おやさま）物語), in relation of the Buddhist master Shinran’s (1173–1262) life and to the group’s doctrine as expounded in the Tenrikyō teachings. In presenting this project, the Honganji-ha kyōten 天理教教典 (Te Doctrine of Tenrikyō) and branch of Shin Buddhism has used expressions such the Ofudesaki おふでさき (Tip of the Divine Writ- as “innovation” and “a new current of visual propaga- ing Brush).7 In particular, I will draw attention to the tion,” which aimed at conveying Shinran’s biography life of the group’s foundress, Nakayama Miki 中山み “in a style never before attempted” and appropriate き (1798–1887), otherwise known as Oyasama 教祖, as for the times. Despite all these claims, however, the the Divine Model (Hinagata ひながた) to be followed, choice of themes from Shin Buddhist teachings, as and how her fgure as a divine being is represented in well as the way Shinran is portrayed, are quite tradi- the manga in an attempt to create a closer connection tional and an expression of the Honganji-ha’s ofcial between her and Tenrikyō’s members. stance. Tese also represent the reassuring message Oyasama monogatari belongs to what Yamanaka the branch wishes to transmit to its followers through Hiroshi has termed kyōdan manga 教団マンガ, the animated, kawaii, and approachable fgure of its which are produced by religious institutions about founder.9 In terms of both content and style, not much their teachings and founders.8 As I highlighted else- of a “revolution” is to be seen here. where in the case of Jōdo Shinshū 浄土真宗, although Stylistically, the majority of kyōdan manga are very the institutions insist to claim the “innovative” use of linear and their layout lacks cinematic diversifcation of the frames, such as diferent angles and close-ups, while the traits of the characters are roughly drawn. Tis is See Craig Norris, Manga, Anime and isual Art Culture, in The particularly evident in the case of traditional Buddhist ambrige ompanion to oern Japanese ulture, ed. Yoshio Sugimoto (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 200), schools, but not only there. Examples include the biogra- 20. phies of Buddhist masters such as Dōgen (Manga Dōgen 5 Cf. Koichi Iwabuchi, apanese Popular Culture and Postcolonial sama monogatari まんが道元さまものがたり, Te esire for Asia’, in Popular ulture lobaliation an Japan, eds. Matthew Allen and umi Sakamoto (ondon and New York: Manga Story of Master Dōgen 2003) and Keizai (Manga outledge, 200), 155 and Matthew Allen and umi Sakamoto, Keizai sama monogatari まんが瑩山さまものがたり, Introduction: Inside-out apan Popular Culture and Globaliza- Te Manga Story of Master Keizai, 2005) produced by tion in the Context of apan, in Popular ulture lobaliation an Japan, eds. Matthew Allen and umi Sakamoto, 2. Sōtō 曹洞 Zen; and the Manga Hōnen Shōnin den マン This does not mean, however, that the efforts of both institutions ガ法然上人伝 published in 1995 by Jōdoshū 浄土宗 and individual priests have been successful in terms of increas- headquarters and translated into English in 2009 as Just ing membership, etc. See Porcu, Pop eligion in apan. Tenriky Kykai onbu, Tenriky kyten (Tenri: Tenriky ysha, As you Are: Te Manga Biography of Pure Land Master 2012 1, hereafter: Tenriky kyten) and Tenrikyo Church Honen Shonin; or biographies of founders of new reli- eaduarters, The octrine of Tenrikyo, tenth edition (Tenri: gious movements, such as Risshō Kōseikai’s 立正佼成会 Tenri ihosha, 200, hereafter: The octrine of Tenriky). The fuesaki was revealed by God the Parent to yasama, who Manga Ichijō no hohoemi まんが一乗のほほえみ (Te started to compile it in 1. See Tenrikyo Church eaduarters, Smile of the One Vehicle Teaching, 2001–03) on Niwano fuesaki: The Tip of the Writing rush, nglish, apanese and Nikkyō 庭野日敬 (1906–99), to name just a few. omanization (Tenri: Tenri ihosha, 200). Yamanaka iroshi, Manga bunka no naka no shky, in hhi sareru shky, eds. Ishii Kenji and Shimazono Susumu (Tokyo: Shunjsha, 1), 11. or a classication of religious and educa- lisabetta Porcu, Speaking through the Media: Shin uddhism, tional manga, see also Mark Macilliams, eligion and Manga, Popular Culture and the Internet, in The ocial imension of in Hanbook of ontemporary Japanese eligions, eds. Inken Shin Buddhism, ed. Ugo ess (eiden and oston: rill, 2010), Prohl and ohn Nelson (eiden, oston: rill, 2012), 552. 20. 86 Journal of asian Humanities at KyusHu university volume 2 JAHQ-V2-interior-final-v2.indd 86 3/20/17 7:41 AM diferent from the cute traits of kodomomuke 子供向 け manga (for children) or shōjo 少女 manga (“girls’ comics”), and by their political-oriented topics which made this genre popular among young workers and student activists, in particular in the 1960s.11 Unlike other religious institutions that have focused on cute characters in their creation of manga and anime,12 Ten- rikyō has tried to locate its product within the frame of a more realistic genre where kawaii features hardly fnd a place. Tis does not mean, however, that con- tent-wise the manga is “innovative,” or has diverged from a “traditional” account of the foundress’s life, as I will show below. Te choice of the gekiga in this case, was not so much a strategic choice of the group than it was dictated by the fact that its author, Nakajō Tateo 中城健雄 (b. 1938), is a well-known gekiga artist and Tenrikyō follower, who in 1987 became head of the Tenrikyō Moritakabun 森高分church in Aichi.13 In his recollection, to write the gekiga version of the found- ress story was a way to combine his religious path as a religious leader with its profession as a manga artist, which he clearly saw as a sign sent by Oyasama.14 e ekiga iogay of te Foundess of enikyō Figure 1.